Uninvited Part 1

It didn't take long for Colette to make the arrangements and return. From there the Giovanni and Eddie's guy and then it was off to the morgue.

The city morgue was in the downtown area, almost, a warehouse type district. Of course, it would be placed somewhere out of site of the tourist areas. Still, nothing in New Orleans was particularly far from anywhere else in the city so it was a little drive but not that far.

The parking lot was empty minus one small tan car that stood alone. Angelica got out of the car the Giovanni were in and told everyone, "Wait here a moment."

Any vampire with acute hearing could hear the conversation that occurred between Angelica and the person in the car. Whose name was apparently
Matt. The conversation was quick and to the point. He had the keys,he needed them back tomorrow morning. She said of course, and thanked him.

As the man drove off, Leon looked at Colette, "One of ours?"

Colette nodded, "Yes. He's a Tremere."

Leon thought a Tremere working at a morgue was an off job but it didn't really matter.

Angelica returned with the keys. "Everyone ready?"She turned to Guiseppe and said, "I need you to keep lookout outside.".

Guiseppe said, "No, I protect."

Giorgio stood in front of his cousin and put a hand on Guiseppe's shoulder, "You'll protect us better out here. You know morgues have a lot of dead bodies."

"Like Italy?" The largest of the Giovanni asked. After, Giorgio confirmed that idea Guiseppe said. "I keep an eye on the outside."

Angelica seemed relieved. Then she and Giorgio headed towards the morgue with Leon and Colette following.

Eddie and his partner Hector followed Colette, Leon and Giorgio and then took their position outside the door to the morgue as the others entered it. Hector looked at Eddie and whispered.

Hector: Is this for real man?

Eddie: Play it cool man.

Hector: Sorry man but this is weird.

Eddie: Well if we fail we have to answer to Adele and Jack so pick your poison bro.

Hector: Oh I get ya.

Eddie: Stay alert for anyone that is not with us.

Hector nodded at Eddie. The two Gangrel bikers then enhanced their senses and hide behind some crates to avoid attention. With their enhanced senses they could smell, hear and see anyone approaching them. This way they could get a surprise attack on anyone approaching them.

The Giovanni and the Nosfartu headed into one of the rooms. It was a large room, sanitary looking with metal tables in the middle and bright lights overhead. Along the walls was the cold storage containers that held the corpses.

Giorgio sat in a chair, "I'll start. If they won't talk to me then Angelica will go next."

Angelica nodded, "I really don't want to have to pierce the veil. Murder victims like to try to keep me there."

Leon and Colette understood the concern.

Giorgio closed his eyes and started counting backwards. "10, 9, 8, 7..." At 5, from out of nowhere, a metal tray full of instruments flew across the room. If Colette didn't have such good reflexes she would have been hit by it.

"Alice stop that!" The now in a trance, Giorgio yelled out.

Hector looks at Eddie and then at the door after hearing the loud noise. Eddie looked at Hector and shook his head no.

Eddie: I didn't hear nuttin.

Hector took a moment to realize what Eddie was trying to imply. Then it sank in and he muttered.

Hector: If you say so boss.

The two Gangrel felt very uncomfortable as they patiently waited from behind the crates.

Leo and Collette looked at Angelica who seemed to suspect that might happen.

"Sorry," Angelica began, "Should have warned you about Alice. She follows Giorgio around."

Leon and Collette both had heard and met other vampires that were haunted. It wasn't particularly common but not completely unheard of.

Angelica continued, "She's usually pretty good. The occasional mischief, nothing major but, she doesn't like it when Giorgio speaks to other dead."

They could hear Giorgio explaining, to Alice, what he was doing and why. It seemed as if he had calmed Alice down.

Giorgio could see other spirits starting to gather around. Those that hadn't crossed the veil, yet. They seemed tentative and remained away from Giorgio.

That was until a sudden gust blew past him and a whisper in his air, "Why are you here? Why am I dead?"

Giorgio couldn't see the spirit whispering to him but he could feel their presence.

Giorgio spoke up, "We are trying to help. We are trying to catch the butcher. I need to speak to his victims."

The spirits started to move around, muttering to themselves, and to each other. Giorgio could make out words like: him, trust, monster, scared. They were scared to talk about the Butcher.

Giorgio called out, "Settle down. He can't hurt you any longer. We are trying to prevent him from hurting anyone else."

Leon, Colette, and Angelica could hear what Giorgio was saying but not what the spirits were saying.

Meanwhile, in the hallway, a door could be heard opening,then gently closing.

"Hey, are you sure?" A male voice said.

"Yes, though I didn't see how many. Vamps I think." Another ma!e voice replied.

"What do you think they're doing here?" The first male asked. "Do you think their working with the Butcher?"

Upon saying the word "Butcher" a wolf-like growl could be heard.

"I don't know but I'm up for a fight with a few vamps." The second male said.

After hearing the two males approaching the door to the morgue, Eddie and Hector nodded at each other as they equipped their "Silver and Gold Knuckles". This was a nasty weapon used against shapeshifters since it did a lot of damage to most shapeshifters. The Mokole (lizard shapeshifters were vulnerable to gold and the Werewolves were vulnerable to silver. Then Eddie called out to the two trespassers.

Eddie: Sorry esse......... we are in the middle of an investigation. I suggest you come back at a different time unless you prefer to throw down.

Hector: Don't say we didn't warn you.

With a sing-song voice, the first male taunted, "I smell a vamp or two. Come out, come out wherever you are."

The second male added, "You gonna mess with us? You'll be sorry."

They couldn't see Eddie or Hector but had idea where the two Gangrel were.

Eddie quickly texted Leon that they had two werewolves outside the door. This was a precaution incase things got real ugly. Then Eddie and Hector transformed into beast form to increase the odds in their favor.

Eddie: Oh you wanna play huh? Just know you are very outnumbered and they are waiting for you behind that door. That is assuming we don't mess you up to bad.

Hector: Oh I can already imagine a new wolf fur rug at our place.

Eddie: Oh yeah esse and after we mess you up we are gonna hunt down your butcher buddy and nail his hide to a wall.

Eddie was just spouting random stuff to see if they were related to the victims.

Leon felt his phone vibrate; he looked down, "Merde" he said half under his breath. Then the Nosferatu spoke up, "We have company. Wolves."

Leon sent a text, a moment later a response came through. Then his eyes glanced to Giorgio who was still under the trance.

The Nosferatu then texted Eddie: Backup is close.

Giorgio was still trying to get the victims to talk to him. Some of the dead were confused, they didn't understand they were dead which made the questioning difficult.

Back in the hallway....

Upon seeing Eddie and Hector shift to beast form; not to be outdone, the two werewolves did the same. Transforming into a form that laid inbetween human and wolf.

The first wolf was now clearly almost covered in black fur. While, the second wolf had a more grey and brown coat.

Upon hearing, the comment made by Eddie both wolves growled. In a flash, the black wolf crossed the distance between himself and Eddie getting in Eddie's face, "The Butcher is an abomination. He must be a vampire."

Eddie kept his guard up and did his best to keep up his tough guy appearance. Fighting werewolves was no easy task and the odds were not in his favor so he was trying to buy time and distract the werewolves.

Eddie: We are looking into the matter and still don’t know who the butcher is esse. So far the Butcher didn’t leave many clues. So unless you have some wisdom ya wanna share neither of us are gonna make much progress.

The other wolf, the one not in Eddie's face, had moved closer to Hector and was pacing, similar to how a wolf moves back and forth in front of it's prey; when it can't circle it.

It was clear both wolves were itching for a fight. Both wolves were on the younger side, late teens - early 20's; but meeting an older wolf would be unlikely as many simply didn't live long enough to see anything resembling an older age. However, their pack hadn't shown up, yet. Whether that meant they were, uncharacteristically, alone or the rest were laying in wait someplace remained to be seen.

The black fur one, let out another growl, this one lower than the others, "So, I'm gonna guess. You've got a rat or two. Probably, a dead lover with you. Why else would two wolf-heads being hanging around a morgue?"

The wolf was clearly trying to egg-on the two Gangrel by using derogatory terms for the clans. It was a test, of sorts. A wolf could easily take on the Nosfartu, except, the way that clan could vanish made it more difficult. The Giovanni also easy fight, except the dead sometimes got in the way. The wolves weren't overly concerned about two Gangrel; an few more would be far more problematic for them. At, least that's what the wolves were thinking as they laid out their odds in their head. Being young made them a little cocky, so, they didn't account for the vampires having the numbers.

Eddie really wanted to smack some wisdom into the young werewolves but instead he continued to buy time so they could gain the advantage in numbers.

Hector: Hey boss should we?

Eddie interrupted Hector as he talked to the werewolf before him.

Eddie: Sounds like you put some thought into what we might be doing. So if we are doing what you think it would be smarter to wait and see what they find. Since you are not fond of this Butcher, I bet you are hunting him too.

The black wolf didn't back off of Eddie, "Maybe. I..."

However, the wolf didn't get to finish that statement as the sound of a shotgun being cocked could be heard behind the wolves.

The grey and brown wolf slowly turned his head, "We've got company."

The black haired one, snarled, showing his teeth and then backed up a little, before turning his head.

Standing behind them was Quinn, shotgun ready. Next to her was Giuseppe, looking big, if a little confused. Flanking them two Brujah, behind them even more Brujah. If one could have seen all the Brujah they would have counted, about 6, plus Quinn.

Quinn stood there, shotgun ready, "Hey, dog breath. You want to back away from my friend. Cause its either that or I have a silver bullet with your name on it." She gave him a slightly evil smile, "I've been looking for a reason to use my new toy. So, just give me one."

Eddie spoke up then.

Eddie: I told you esse.

Eddie then spoke up to Quinn.

Eddie: From what we heard these to are looking for the Butcher.

Hector felt a lot braver with more back up now but he didn't drop his guard as Eddie was standing his ground.

Quinn didn't drop the shot gun, but spoke to the two wolves, "Unofficial investigations into the Butcher don't seem like the safest or smartest thing."

The two wolves backed away from the Gangrel. The black fur one responded, "How do you know its - unofficial?"

Quinn snickered, " Wow. You must be new, at the whole werewolf/vampire dynamic. I managed to get, in here, with a loaded but definitely not concealed rifle and we ran into no one. None of your pack. That screams they don't even know you're here."

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